“I was going to ask you the same thing. Won’t you be pretty busy tackling this case?”

“Not that busy, I hope.”

“Good.” He smiled. “Omega Chi Epsilon is having a party tonight after the game. Care to go with me?”

Happiness flooded through her. “You bet!” She grinned. “Can Bess and George go, too?”

“Of course. Just wait for me outside the gym after the game, okay?”

“Okay!”

He kissed her then. It was nothing heavy—just a “see you later” sort of kiss—but it was enough for Nancy. Her heart soared.

“Will you look at the size of that crowd!” Bess whistled in amazement.

The three girls were walking toward the sports complex for that evening’s game against St. George’s College. A noisy line several hundred people long stretched from the main entrance to the middle of the parking lot. Homemade banners and purple-and-orange Emerson pennants were everywhere.

“Gee, I hope we’ll be able to get hi!” George said.

“We will, don’t worry. The gym holds at least four thousand,” Nancy told her.

“Good,” Bess put in, “but where are the other team’s supporters going to sit?”

“Outside, if the Emerson fans have anything to say about it.”

As they joined the line, however, Nancy noticed that not everyone was there to cheer on the rival teams. Up near the doors, which were not yet open, a group of sign-carrying students was staging a protest. She could hear jeering voices from the crowd, urging them to get lost.

“I wonder what’s going on?” she said curiously.

“Why don’t you and George check it out? I’ll hold our places,” Bess offered.

“Thanks. Let’s go.”

As she and George drew close, Nancy saw that the signs the protesters carried read “Say ‘No’ to Burnett’s Budget!” and “Scholarship Before Sports!” The protesters seemed discouraged by the crowd’s hostility, but their leader—a brown-haired, confident-looking boy—was determined to continue the demonstration.